Morocco’s fairy tale at this World Cup began on August 11, when the federation fired coach Vahid Halilhodzic, who had selected the team for the competition, and decided to appoint Walid Regragui, 47, a coach born in Corbeil-Essonnes, on the outskirts of Paris. A coach with a creditable career in Morocco, where he led Wydad de Casablanca to the conquest of important titles, such as the African Champions League. And who has now been elevated to hero status and takes an African national team to the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time, where he must take on the exact squad of the country where he was born.
One of the coach’s first tasks was to unite a group in which 14 of the 26 called up players were born outside Morocco, to make the national team a family, something his predecessor failed to do and that is why he had problems with several football players, one of them Hakimi, the biggest star of the African team. For example, it was Regragui who saved Hakim Ziyech, from Chelsea, who had not been called up to the squad and even announced that he would not return to represent his country.
Fluent in Arabic, Spanish, French and English, he convinced the athletes from the start that they had to give everything for the country, regardless of their origin. And he often led by example – he was born in the suburbs of Paris and spent most of his playing career with second-tier French clubs, such as Toulouse, Ajaccio and Dijon, as well as Racing Santander, in Spain, before returning to Morocco . .
At the end of the game against Portugal, after making history by qualifying an African team for the first time for the semi-finals of a World Cup, Walid compared Morocco’s triumphant journey to Rocky Balboa, a character played in cinema by actor Sylvester. Stallone, an amateur boxer who came from the suburbs of Philadelphia in the US and became a world boxing champion.
“We are the team everyone loves at this World Cup because we show the whole world that you can succeed even without as much talent and money as others. An African team has never won a World Cup, but can’t we dream? We’re Rocky Balboa this World Cup,” he shot, leaving a confession: “It’s unbelievable. If they had told me at the start of the World Cup that we would reach the semi-finals and beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal, I would have done that. said it was impossible.”
Partying with moms
When he was a player, still in France, he studied economics at his father’s request. But after he ended his career as a football player, he never practiced again and opted for a career as a coach – his first job, curiously enough, was as an assistant to the Moroccan national team between 2012 and 2013. After that, he went through clubs such as FUS Rabat , Al Duhail and Wydad Casablanca. It was in the latter that he stood out, and in addition to the title of champion, he won the African champions.
The great source of inspiration of the Moroccan coach is his mother Fátima, who has lived in Paris for more than 50 years. in fact one of the beautiful images at the end of the game against Portugal.
Fátima had never traveled to see her son’s game, either as a player or as a coach. But when he started coaching the national team, Walid convinced them to travel to Qatar as he wanted her on the bench to serve as an inspiration. And Fatima agreed to the request.
Celebrating Moroccan players with family members has been a constant at this World Cup. After the match against Portugal, striker Sofiane Boufal danced on the field with his mother. And earlier, after the victory against Belgium, still in the group stage, the world watched with emotion as Hakimi kissed his mother.
“This is history for Africa to write. Sometimes they think we don’t have the technical capacity to face and beat European teams, but we do. It doesn’t end there,” promised Walid Regragui. France will now follow in the semi-final on Wednesday. And if Rocky defeated Balboa in the films Apollo Creed and Iván Drago to become world champion, Morocco believes he can also fulfill his dream and take home the trophy on the 18th. However, history has already been written.
Source: DN
